In order to facilitate rapid detection of airborne pathogens capable of causing either natural or deliberate epidemics it is important to collect particles that holds or consists of the said pathogens in order to facilitate rapid detection. Diseases that are spreading through air pose a serious health risk to man. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) as many as 1000 million people may become infected with Tuberculosis between 2002 and 2020, of which approximately 150 million will get sick and 36 million people will die from the disease. The first new communicable airborne disease of the 21st century is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has the potential of generating rapidly spreading infections. Parallels can be feared with the spread of the Plague (“the Black Death”) with Europe's Middle Ages, when approximately 25 million people died in the period 1347 to 1352. The most deadly form of the Plague is by inhalation of infectious aerosols, where as little as 1-10 cells of Yersinia pestis are sufficient to cause disease. The aerosols can arise by respiration of infected humans or, more threateningly, from deliberate releases Y. pestis by bioterrorists.
Biological warfare (BW) agents of critical concern are bacterial spores, such as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Clostridium tetani (tetanus), and Clostridium botulinum (botulism). Spores, produced by certain types of Gram-positive bacteria in response to starvation, are non-growing, heat-resistant, dehydrated, and resistant to extremes of temperature, pH, desiccation, radiation, and chemical agents. This stability makes them an attractive tool for use in BW weapons.
Other micro-organisms with the potential of being used to generate deliberate epidemics comprises micro-organisms causing e.g., Smallpox, Ebola, Encephalitis, and Q-fever. Also feared are the natural occurring recombination products of airborne influenza with the deadly Avian flu. These recombined viruses have the potential of causing pandemics facilitated by air travel of as of yet unseen dimensions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,742 discloses an integrated microfabricated instrument for manipulation, reaction and detection of microliter to picoliter samples. The instrument is suited for biochemical reactions, particularly DNA-based reactions such as the polymerase chain reaction, that require thermal cycling since the inherently small size of the instrument facilitates rapid cycle times. The integrated nature of the instrument provides accurate, contamination-free processing. The instrument may include reagent reservoirs, agitators and mixers, heaters, pumps, and optical or electromechanical sensors. Ultrasonic Lamb-wave devices may be used as sensors, pumps and agitators.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,253 discloses a method for the detection of cell contents which contains the steps of, introducing a cell into a channel in a microchip; lysing the cell to release cell contents into the channel; moving the cell contents towards a detection zone; and detecting the cell contents at the detection zone. An apparatus for the detection of cell contents is furthermore disclosed, the apparatus comprising: a microchip; a cell mobilization channel formed in the microchip, the cell mobilization channel having a cell introduction end and a detection end; a cell mobilizer operably connected with the cell introduction end for moving cells from the cell introduction end to the detection end; means for lysing cells in the cell mobilization channel at a lysing zone, the lysing zone being located between the cell introduction end and the detection end; and a detector, disposed adjacent the detector end, arranged to detect cell contents appearing at the detector end that have been moved from the lysing zone to the detector end by the cell mobilizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,673,621 discloses a device suitable for marking a collected sample, comprising collecting means for collecting the sample and at least one detectable marker which is associated with at least a portion of the collecting means, wherein the at least one detectable marker is contractable with the sample upon collection of the sample to mark the collected sample upon contact of the sample with the at least a portion of the collecting means having the at least one detectable marker associated therewith, and wherein the at least one detectable marker is other than a component which is present in the sample before collection and is inert to any component present in the sample before collection. It furthermore discloses kits containing the device, methods for marking samples using the device, methods for determining the integrity of a marked sample, and use of the markers for the testing of laboratories and/or laboratory personnel for certification, proficiency testing or accreditation purposes are also provided.